“RoadPol – Speed” part of European safety strategy
A new “RoadPol – Speed” road enforcement operation kicks off today throughout Portugal, the GNR has announced, explaining that the actions will be directed at the roads with the highest incidence of accidents.
The campaign runs until Sunday and aims to help control excesses as many Portuguese head out for their holidays.
In a statement, the GNR stresses that speeding continues to be one of the main causes of serious road accidents in Portugal – either because it reduces the driver’s reaction time to deal with an unforeseen event or aggravates its consequences “as a result of the greater violence of the collision”.
Excessive speed is also “the most common offence in all European countries, and recognised as the main cause of death on the roads.
In 2023, the GNR recorded a total of 84,601 road accidents, of which at least 3,447 were probably caused by excessive speed.
With regard to speed control, 101,169 offences were recorded in 2023.
The GNR’s focus in this new campaign is to make drivers aware of the importance of adopting safer behaviour, “with a view to promoting road safety and safeguarding human lives”.
The operation falls under the ambit of the European Network of Traffic Police (RoadPol), an organisation set up by Europe’s traffic police to improve road safety and compliance with road regulations.
RoadPol is also the largest speed enforcement campaign in the world, given the total number of police professionals involved and number of drivers inspected.
In the same period last year, more than 650,000 speeding offences were detected during the operation in Europe.
LUSA
